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BrainDance posted:How do you even live in China with a peanut allergy? What does that leave you with, raw vegetables and fruit you pray hasn't been around boxes of peanuts? My wife never heard of someone in China with a peanut allergy, and assumed anyone with such an allergy wouldn't make it past their first year.
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Apr 30, 2020 09:25
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Dzhay posted:
I have an American name. Not an English name - American. My American name is Chris. Whenever I tell people from other countries my name, people will usually get a baffled expression, repeat it badly, I tell them that's fine, and we move on. Americans for some reason almost literally always feel compelled to get my weird-rear end foreign name just right and will keep repeating it until I tell them "you know what, you can call me Chris, it's fine". They then feel embarassed they screwed my name up and uuugh. So Americans, I just tell ya'll to call me Chris. It's easier for everybody.
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Apr 30, 2020 09:28
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I feel rude for not trying to learn and pronounce a person's foreign name despite being bad at remembering names. Even if it doesn't work out which is pretty often it's the effort that counts having been on both sides. It's not about the difficulty.
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Apr 30, 2020 10:01
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My wife just goes by part of her Chinese name because it's theoretically easy since if you ignore the tone, it's basically a name that exists in English. But everyone she's introduced to, be it Thai, Taiwanese, Chinese or a native English speaker, won't take her word for how it's pronounced and will change the vowel in it for no good reason.
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Apr 30, 2020 10:36
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Atlas Hugged posted:will change the vowel in it for no good reason. I would love to find out the logic of how an English-speaker looked at the word "karaoke" and decided none of the vowels are going to be consistent in any fashion and instead it will be from henceforth: "kärioki" Truly the most fascinating word in English.
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Apr 30, 2020 10:44
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Shadow0 posted:I would love to find out the logic of how an English-speaker looked at the word "karaoke" and decided none of the vowels are going to be consistent in any fashion and instead it will be from henceforth: "kärioki" The English-speaking peoples love to put that [i] "ee" sound in words especially at the end
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Apr 30, 2020 10:48
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I have a pet theory that the American pronunciation of sake comes from the Okinawan pronunciation which supposedly is sakee. That is, if I'm remembering my Japanese linguistics class accurately.
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Apr 30, 2020 11:47
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Mr. Fix It posted:I have a pet same
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Apr 30, 2020 12:18
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Blistex posted:My wife never heard of someone in China with a peanut allergy, and assumed anyone with such an allergy wouldn't make it past their first year. Same with my girlfriend, we were cooking and I was like "so, all the food we've made has a ton of peanuts what happens if someone is allergic?" and, well, same thing, she just said she has never once heard of it happening. And we agreed maybe all those kids die young. Though, I read somewhere that countries with lots of hookworm have fewer allergies, something about parasite infections gets your immune system straightened out and it wont attack itself. Maybe if China ever starts sanitizing stuff and ups the food hygiene they'll have to find some alternatives.
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Apr 30, 2020 13:36
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Way late, but: Chinese modes of thought aren't hugely alien. Different, certainly, but still those same "shared human universals" mentioned earlier. Point is, methods of getting/showing those universals are hugely modulated by society. Chinese people react pretty much like everyone else... once you get past their expectations of you, and their beliefs about your expectations of them. I mean I'm sure the reverse is true from their perspective, but this is the perspective I have, so. In social terms I have been described as "cheerfully relentless", and it has generally served me well. Eventually.
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Apr 30, 2020 14:17
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Two of my Chinese friends both have eczema and peanut allergies
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Apr 30, 2020 14:41
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strange feelings re Daisy posted:Some of the poo poo Chinese immigrants say Interesting. I was kind of hoping it'd be stranger, that's all basically just like talking to people in China, nothing too specific about the immigrant experience. I had so many students depressed about being forced to get business degrees. One really wanted to be a physicist, but her dad said girls can't do math so she wasn't allowed to study science. No argument permitted.
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Apr 30, 2020 16:49
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Baronjutter posted:I'd love to know some examples of this from the book. I've also experienced this a little with media and just ESL-student interactions. Like sure there's going to be some cultural differences around the world, but it doesn't matter if someone's from Chile or Nigeria or Vietnam there was always enough of a sort of universal shared human experience and thought-process that could eventually form friendships and a common ground everyone could relate to, everyone could eventually get on the same page to tackle group projects and creative writing and interpreting poetry and movies and so on. But the mainland chinese students, specially the boys, there was always way more trouble. And we'd rarely get through to them, they'd usually just go into a sulk mode and put in minimal effort and hide in their dorm rooms. The Saudi, Nigerian, and HK kid would all understand the underlying message of a film but the mainland chinese guy would have some absolutely bizarre take on it, totally missing the obvious themes of the movie and then getting very upset that everyone else thought differently and then further withdraw from the other students. It was always very difficult and we never quite figured out the right strategy. I'm on the third of the very long books after only a month (lots of time to read in quarantine), so it's actually hard for me to think of specifics now, but here goes- For context, the books are about humanity's first contact with an alien civilization, so humanity is kind of treated as a singular entity and nationality isn't really ever a factor even though most of the main characters are Chinese. Several times a book a character will be put solely in charge of solving huge problems that have world-altering ramifications. The whole of humanity always treats these characters as pariahs after not solving the impossible problem. Often it's not even that they didn't solve the problem, they just didn't solve it immediately. It's the equivalent of if the WHO put a single guy (not even a Doctor necessarily, just some guy that everyone agrees is smart) in charge of solving Corona, and then people start literally spitting on him in the street a week later because he hasn't fixed the problem yet. Related to that, it's kind of subtle and in the background, but education is equated with intelligence. It's as if every level of degree you go up in higher education immediately unlocks another 20% of your brainpower. Everything is zero-sum. Almost every interaction between humans and every interaction between humans and aliens is treated that way. The overarching plot of the series, the dark forest theory, is that the entire universe is a zero-sum game which causes all species to instantly annihilate each other as soon as they are aware of their existence. Oh and another one- (Not too much of a spoiler)- at one point humanity is basically doomed, so a few surviving spaceships flee the solar system. Later humanity is no longer doomed, so humans on earth now see this as the ultimate betrayal and send out another ship solely for the purpose of destroying the ships that escaped. This happens a lot. People make a choice to survive that seems personally reasonable at the time, but then something that they couldn't foresee happens later that makes their choice irrelevant. Instead of taking into account the context of the original choice and forgiving them, they are punished harshly for making what is retroactively the wrong choice. It could just be the author. The books are lauded though, and I really do enjoy them despite the cultural weirdness.
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Apr 30, 2020 17:16
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The behavior and motivations of the male main character in the first book made zero sense to me. But the more I thought about them a lot of my students did some similar things. I wish I had specifics but I read it years ago. I remember he just flat out like, leaves his house and abandons his wife for no apparent reason and she is never mentioned again.
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Apr 30, 2020 17:22
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Grand Fromage posted:The behavior and motivations of the male main character in the first book made zero sense to me. But the more I thought about them a lot of my students did some similar things. I wish I had specifics but I read it years ago. I remember he just flat out like, leaves his house and abandons his wife for no apparent reason and she is never mentioned again. I was going to bring up the family stuff but it sounds so insane I didn't know how to describe it without sounding racist. With a couple exceptions, everyone treats their families as people beholden to them or that they are beholden to that they abandon whenever convenient.
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Apr 30, 2020 17:26
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Rime posted:How China weaponized its supply chain Global: United Front groups in Canada helped Beijing stockpile coronavirus safety supplies A detailed, and thoroughly damning, investigative report on something I brought up a month ago.
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Apr 30, 2020 21:31
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Chinese ventilators that ministers heralded as vital to the NHS’s efforts to tackle Covid-19 were badly built, unsuitable for use in hospitals and potentially dangerous for patients, it has emerged. All of the devices in a consignment of 250 ventilators that arrived from China on 4 April posed such serious problems that they could not be used and were ditched. Doctors in NHS hospitals in the West Midlands, among which the ventilators were shared, were so concerned that they wrote to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, warning that they could kill patients. “We believe that if used, significant patient harm, including death, is likely,” they wrote in a letter, which was obtained by NBC News. “We look forward to the withdrawal and replacement of these ventilators with devices better able to provide intensive care ventilation for our patients.” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/30/entire-order-of-250-chinese-ventilators-were-useless-despite
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Apr 30, 2020 21:38
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Rime posted:Global: United Front groups in Canada helped Beijing stockpile coronavirus safety supplies The Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, or CACA
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Apr 30, 2020 22:10
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hakimashou posted:Chinese ventilators that ministers heralded as vital to the NHS’s efforts to tackle Covid-19 were badly built, unsuitable for use in hospitals and potentially dangerous for patients, it has emerged. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-29/ventilator-fraud-is-booming-online-in-china quote:As hospitals and governments around the world furiously search for medical ventilators to help treat Covid-19 patients, some have been drawn to the large number of merchants in China offering to sell the lifesaving machines. One account on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter and the country’s most popular microblogging site, is offering 1,000 of Beijing Aeonmed Co.’s VG70 ventilators for sale. But the listing is far from a find. quote:Beijing Aeonmed has found scammers using its name without authority, touting forged documents, and employing bogus engraved official stamps in an attempt to hijack contracts. The company said it isn’t involved in any attempts to mark up the list price of its products. quote:Even the Chinese government’s name has been misused by impostors when it comes to medical supplies. The foreign trade department of the Ministry of Commerce said some companies have claimed to be officially designated exporters of masks and protective clothing to 15 countries, including Italy. But the department said it’s never issued such a designation and that misuse of its name has damaged the department’s authority. strange feelings re Daisy fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Apr 30, 2020 |
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Apr 30, 2020 22:21
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Yeah, there'll be a whole spectrum out there. On production side, everything from hospital-grade equipment to a fan in a box with "Vetnilatorr" written in the side. On the sales side, everything from corporate reps who have some genuine unlisted stock at premium rates to Some Guy Who Swears Be Can Get Them. A big issue with China is, rates of pay and costs of living are crazy low in certain regions and situations, which can enable entire categories of scams that fool people because "surely no-one would take the time/effort to fake this for (amount of money), right?" They totally will, because it makes financial sense, because especially in China the future is unevenly distributed.
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May 1, 2020 07:59
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Grand Fromage posted:The behavior and motivations of the male main character in the first book made zero sense to me. But the more I thought about them a lot of my students did some similar things. I wish I had specifics but I read it years ago. I remember he just flat out like, leaves his house and abandons his wife for no apparent reason and she is never mentioned again. Same. One point really stuck to me: His whole motivation for actually going on with the plot and not just quitting is this cheeky cop guy (that he's met only a handful of times) making fun of him, like the most childish "I *bet* you can do that thing!" sort of ploy. The descriptions of the cultural revolution stuff were cool. The rest of the book less so, imo.
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May 1, 2020 13:06
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Shadow0 posted:This is the one thing I still can't do. I have never seen Mongolian in my life I think I subconsciously assumed the horse raiders didn’t have a written language
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May 1, 2020 13:41
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Alan Smithee posted:I have never seen Mongolian in my life They use Cyrillic now so yeah it's virtually not used in modern times
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May 1, 2020 13:49
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Alan Smithee posted:I have never seen Mongolian in my life The writing is visually representative of the hail of arrows the mighty horse archer unleashes upon his foes.
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May 1, 2020 16:39
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Alan Smithee posted:I have never seen Mongolian in my life If you go to the forbidden city its one of the languages on all the blue placard things above doors I think
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May 1, 2020 22:22
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hakimashou posted:If you go to the forbidden city its one of the languages on all the blue placard things above doors I think Pro-tip. Don't go "inside" the Forbidden City.
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May 1, 2020 22:29
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hakimashou posted:If you go to the forbidden city its one of the languages on all the blue placard things above doors I think did Genghis or Kublai put it there? Blistex posted:Pro-tip. Don't go "inside" the Forbidden City. why
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May 1, 2020 22:43
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*sigh* no why
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May 1, 2020 22:53
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Alan Smithee posted:did Genghis or Kublai put it there? donghis actually. not a khan of particular historical note he was always such a kidder
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May 1, 2020 22:57
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Alan Smithee posted:did Genghis or Kublai put it there? It is forbidden
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May 1, 2020 23:09
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hakimashou posted:If you go to the forbidden city its one of the languages on all the blue placard things above doors I think uhh that's probably manchu
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May 1, 2020 23:38
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It is Manchu. The script is a derivation of Mongolian though, so it's easy to confuse them.
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May 1, 2020 23:48
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Alan Smithee posted:did Genghis or Kublai put it there? Honestly, the place is 99% empty space, and nearly every other palace in China is more interesting. This is just my opinion.
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May 1, 2020 23:51
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Grand Fromage posted:It is Manchu. The script is a derivation of Mongolian though, so it's easy to confuse them. why is it still there though Did Wong Fei Hung not kick it off
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May 1, 2020 23:51
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Alan Smithee posted:why is it still there though Some actually decent human being stopped the Forbidden Palace from being destroyed during Mao's time. I wish I could remember who, but IIRC it was just one dude who had some pull and was able to save all the historical structures that are still dotted around Beijing. A lot was lost, but it could've been worse.
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May 1, 2020 23:58
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Marcade posted:*sigh* no why
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May 2, 2020 00:35
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All the cool poo poo that was in the forbidden city is now in Taipei at the national museum. Which is the best museum in the world because it houses The Meat Shaped Stone, the pinnacle of human artistic achievement. Also I learned how to write my name in ...possibly Mongolian script or something close from a Ugyhur friend. It looks a bit different if you handwrite with a pen/pencil vs. the official font you'd see printed, like how handwriting doesn't look like Times New Roman. It's one of the coolest looking writing systems for sure.
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May 2, 2020 00:40
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Horatius Bonar posted:All the cool poo poo that was in the forbidden city is now in Taipei at the national museum. Which is the best museum in the world because it houses Is it an art piece? I thought it was just a natural stone that they found and were like holy poo poo this looks like meat
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May 2, 2020 00:55
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Devils Affricate posted:Is it an art piece? I thought it was just a natural stone that they found and were like holy poo poo this looks like meat Well.. yes on some level it is a stone that looks like meat that they just found, but it's in the art museum and not the geology museum so that makes it an Art Object. Plus the gold base. 
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May 2, 2020 01:08
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Isn't there also a Chinese cabbage stone?
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May 2, 2020 03:47
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